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<h2><a name="SECTION006220000000000000000"></a><a name="matching-searching"></a>
<br>
4.2.2 Matching vs Searching 
</h2>

<p>
Python offers two different primitive operations based on regular
expressions: match and search.  If you are accustomed to Perl's
semantics, the search operation is what you're looking for.  See the
<tt class="function">search()</tt> function and corresponding method of compiled
regular expression objects.

<p>
Note that match may differ from search using a regular expression
beginning with "<tt class="character">^</tt>":
"<tt class="character">^</tt>" matches only at the
start of the string, or in <tt class="constant">MULTILINE</tt> mode also immediately
following a newline.  The ``match'' operation succeeds only if the
pattern matches at the start of the string regardless of mode, or at
the starting position given by the optional <var>pos</var> argument
regardless of whether a newline precedes it.

<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
re.compile("a").match("ba", 1)           # succeeds
re.compile("^a").search("ba", 1)         # fails; 'a' not at start
re.compile("^a").search("\na", 1)        # fails; 'a' not at start
re.compile("^a", re.M).search("\na", 1)  # succeeds
re.compile("^a", re.M).search("ba", 1)   # fails; no preceding \n
</pre></div>

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